Pads fans feel effect of struggle

Published: Thursday, October 22, 1998

SAN DIEGO (AP) - In 1984, San Diego was clouded by dark times.

A mass murderer killed 21 people and wounded 19 at a McDonald's restaurant. A Ponzi scheme unraveled, leaving many of the city's wealthiest fleeced and the mayor ensnared. Los Angeles was basking in the afterglow of the Summer Olympics, while San Diego was again treated as the ugly step-suburb, hosting only one equestrian event.

Then, the Padres won their first-ever berth in the World Series.

"I think we were kind of looking for a positive or a silver lining, and that was it," said Priscilla Oppenheimer, director of the Padres' minor league operations. "It brought the town together to celebrate, and they hadn't celebrated in a long time."

Now, the city is riding high after playing host to the Super Bowl in January, the Republican National Convention two years ago and rejuvenating downtown into a bustling site for tourists and possibly a new Padres ballpark, if voters approve it in November.

But the Padres' poor performance against the New York Yankees in its second Series is casting a pall over loyal fans.

"I was having chest pains," Julie Christianson of San Diego said Tuesday after the Padres lost to the Yankees 5-4 in Game 3. "They've been so close in this Series. It's just so sad. We all feel the loss."

Mayor Susan Golding, a councilwoman when the Padres lost the 1984 Series to Detroit 4-1, said San Diegans have a great deal of pride for their hometown team.

"We all said, `Let's go to the World Series, whether we win or lose,"' she said. "Of course, we want to win."

Bill Robinson, spokesman for the San Diego Police Department, said the 1984 Series gave the city a shot in the arm, just as it has this year, despite the losses.

"It reminds all of us who live here just how positive a community can be around professional athletics," he said.

To outsiders, the city is no longer known only for its military bases and great surf. It now boosts a burgeoning biotechnology industry and the corporate headquarters for Gateway computers and Qualcomm Inc., a digital telecommunications company that has the naming rights to the stadium where the Padres and the NFL Chargers play home games.

All previous attendance records at the stadium were broken this season after the Padres advanced to the National League playoffs and crowds of 65,000 started packing the park. Most of those games were nationally televised, which Robinson said is just a free advertisement for the city.

"We always attract new residents," Robinson said. "The people just fall in love with San Diego."

David Avilles, 34, said the city doesn't need any more people - the population is currently about 3 million - but it needs loyal fans who won't turn their backs on the Padres just because they didn't do well in the Series.

"A true fan hangs in there no matter what," he said. "If it takes another 14 years, I'll keep rooting for the Padres."